


The Snake Among the Lions

by Bellaledrid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 06:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21333799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellaledrid/pseuds/Bellaledrid
Summary: Delphini Riddle is starting Hogwarts. What happens over the next seven years could change the shape of the magical community forever.
Relationships: Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Voldemort
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. Author's Note

Everything that happened up until the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is still true in this story. Most of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince still occurs, the main changes being that Bellatrix gives birth to Delphini Riddle and this is a known fact by everyone in the magical community (unlike the books where Delphini's existence is unknown until many years later). Secondly, whilst Draco does attempt to kill Dumbledore, nobody is successful and so Dumbledore is still alive during this book (also Dumbledore was never injured by the Gaunt Ring). The majority of the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows do not occur and those that do, occur in a different way to the original books.

The 2nd Wizarding War is ended with a truce between Dumbledore, Harry Potter and Voldemort with Dumbledore becoming Minister for Magic and Voldemort being allowed to raise Delphini himself (all persons involved in the war on both sides were pardoned of any actions). Lastly, Delphini Riddle has black hair in this story to match her parents.

Disclaimer: Any characters that appear in Harry Potter canon are not owned by me. Everyone else is added by me for the benefit of the story (such as Chelsea Lupin).


	2. Prologue

Eleven and a half years ago

The teachers were gathered in the staff-room at Hogwarts preparing for the upcoming week of exams when Professor Trelawney doubled over in her chair only to rise back up with her eyes clouded over in a greyish-blue hue;

"One be born as black as night, but see the world in golden light. To set the world upon a new course, an augurey at its source."

and with that she collapsed on the floor; dead.


	3. Chapter 1

Present Day

An eleven-year-old girl with long, black, wavy hair and dark brown eyes knelt on the floor by her trunk repacking her belongings for what seemed like the hundredth time. In just a few hours she would be leaving to start Hogwarts. She had been dreaming about Hogwarts for as long as she could remember, her head filled with stories from her father about the magical castle and the things she would learn there. Grinning to herself, she shut her trunk for the final time and ran downstairs to breakfast.

"What have I said about running in the house, Delphini?" She looked up to see here father sitting at the head of the table, newspaper in hand and already half way through his breakfast.

"Sorry, father" she replied, "I'm just excited about Hogwarts."

"Emotion does not excuse behaviour." Tom Riddle replied coldly, before his face softened into what some may have called a smile. "But I will let it slide this once, given what day it is. Are you packed?"

Delphini nodded enthusiastically whilst munching on a slice of toast. "Tell me one last story before I leave?"

"You will have your own stories soon enough."

"Please father."

"Which one?" he relented, knowing it would be a few months before he saw her again. He folded the newspaper and placed it on the table, his eyes not leaving his daughter.

"Tell me what the common room is like."

"You'll see it this evening, Delphini." But he obliged anyway describing the black leather furniture and roaring fire burning in an obsidian fireplace, and the green glow that permeated every corner of the room. Delphini closed her eyes, allowing her father's words to wash over her visualising what her home would be like for the next seven years.

"It sounds perfect. I hope it hasn't changed." Delphini muttered.

"I highly doubt it. It's an old castle with old magic that's not easy to change." Delphini's eyes flew open not realising she had said the last part out loud. Smiling slightly, her father stood, 

"Finish your food and go get your trunk." He walked the length of the table stopping beside her and resting his hand softly on her shoulder. Delphini looked up slowly meeting her father's suddenly serious face. "Come to my office when you're ready. I have something for you before you go."

Intrigued, Delphini rushed the last bites of her toast and returned to her room as quickly as she could whilst maintaining that she 'wasn't running'. After cleaning her teeth, taming her hair into two french braids and double-checking her room, she dragged her trunk to the top of the stairs with her cloak tucked under one arm. Leaving her trunk there for her father to levitate (no way was she going to try and drag that thing down the stairs with out magic) she made her way to his office, pausing to watch the sun shine through the windows of Riddle Manor. For a moment she forgot all about the excitement of Hogwarts, remembering the last eleven years of her life growing up in the manor, suddenly sad to leave it all behind.

Delphini was drawn back to the present when a hand landed on either of her shoulders,

"It will be Christmas before you know it." He father said gently, squeezing her shoulders.

"I know. I'm just going to miss being here every day with you." She replied smiling up at him. This would be the memory of him she would take with her to Hogwarts she decided. She'd read all the history books and seen the newspaper articles about him, and there were moments when she saw the anger and rage they wrote about, but it was times like these when she had trouble reconciling the man, the monster, Lord Voldemort with Tom Riddle, her father. Pushing the dark thoughts from her head, she followed him into his office and sunk into the chair in front of his desk. Her eyes glanced over the papers on his desk, but seeing nothing of interest jump out at her, she fixed them back on her father and the two slim boxes he held in his hand.

"It is time you had these, " he said holding them out to her, "open them."

She carefully opened the top box, lifting the lid to reveal a beautiful, midnight blue quill feather.

"Thank you, father." She said, holding the quill to the light and admiring the shimmering surface where the sun reflected off the smooth, silky feathers. "It's beautiful."

"It is a Black tradition to receive a new quill before starting Hogwarts. I know your mother would have wanted you to have it." Delphini's eyes brimmed with tears as she thought about her mother with a new appreciation for the gift in her lap.

"The other box contains your wand," her father continued oblivious to his daughter's emotion, "do not lose it."

Delphini stood up and wrapped her arms around her father, promising to be careful with her new possessions. After a moment her father stepped back and knelt down to Delphini's height.

"Listen to me Delphini," he said, taking her hands in his, "there are people outside this manor, at Hogwarts, that blame me for what happened to their families, their misfortune, the loss of their loved ones. They will try to put this on you too, see you as a weak point. You must be strong. Prove to them that you are my daughter, and that you will not tolerate blood traitors."

She nodded quietly in reply, unsure of what to say.

"Make me proud, Delphini."

"Yes, father." she replied, nodding again.

"Come." Tom Riddle said standing up and holding out his hand to his daughter. " We don't want you to miss the train."

Still holding his daughter's hand, he walked down the stairs, levitating her trunk behind them. With shoes and cloaks secure, he held out his arm for her to loop hers through, and with an audible crack they disapparated. 

* * *

Platform nine and three quarters was filled with witches and wizards hurrying around dragging trunks, carrying pet cages, parents and children saying goodbye, the high roof echoing the noise below. As the Riddles appeared on the platform, a hushed silence fell on the place, eyes locked on the pair, the crowd parting as they made their way to the train afraid to get too close to the once Dark Lord and his daughter.

"Keep your head up and look straight ahead." Tom Riddle whispered to Delphini walking briskly along, not wanting to tarry longer than necessary. Delphini rushed behind, her tawny owl Arion's cage, hanging from her hand. As they reached the train her father stopped and looked at her.

"Send me an owl this evening." He said shortly. "Let me know if you've forgotten anything at home and how you are liking the Slytherin common room. You will be a Slytherin, won't you?"

"Yes father." She replied quietly.

"In that case I shall see you at Christmas, Delphini." He walked a couple of steps back in the direction they had come before turning back to face her. "Make me proud, Delphini." He said echoing his statement from less than an hour ago. With that he turned and walked away, disapparating without a goodbye.

There was a sudden surge of movement as others on the platform began to move again, as if having been unfrozen. The platform was once again filled with conversations and the sound of trunk wheels scraping along the floor. Delphini looked around the platform once more before pulling her trunk onto the train and placing it in the first compartment she got to along with Arion's cage. She settled in the seat pulling out a copy of Hogwarts: A History and turning to the earmarked page. She was so engrossed in the book she didn't realise that the train had left the station until the compartment door opened and a girl and a boy entered. They introduced themselves as Eleanor Bulstrode and Zadoci Selwyn. She smiled politely, vaguely recognising Selwyn from the Malfoy's Christmas parties. Eleanor Bulstrode asked if she wanted to join them for a game of exploding snap, which she agreed to seeing as how Eleanor had mentioned that her whole family had been in Slytherin for generations and so Delphini thought it best to try to be friendly as they would be spending the next seven years in a dorm room together; even if exploding snap wasn't really her favourite game.

Around half way through the journey, the compartment door opened once again.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" an old lady asked, sticking her head through the doorway.

"Two pumpkin pasties and a liquorice wand." Zadoci Selwyn said bluntly, thrusting the money at the witch.

"You don't have to be rude!" Delphini exclaimed without thinking.

"She's some half-blood hag who can't get a better job." Zadoci retorted.

Realising she had annoyed her future housemate, Delphini backtracked, "Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. But would it have hurt to say please?" She turned to the trolley witch handing her a galleon, "Chocolate frog and a pumpkin pasty please."

The trolley witch quickly handed over the sweets leaving swiftly, the door clanking shut behind her.

"Are you your father's daughter or not?" Zadoci demanded angrily.

"What...?"

"Your father wouldn't have cared how I speak to the old hag!"

"Sorry." Delphini muttered looking at her feet. She was starting to think Zadoci had a point. Her father's parting words were about doing him proud and here she was defending a half-blood old woman and she hadn't even reached Hogwarts yet. "I'm just so used to only interacting with purebloods, I forgot not everyone is like us." 

She stuffed the pumpkin pasty in her mouth and dealt another hand of exploding snap, hoping to distract herself and the other two from the conversation that had just happened.

* * *

As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, Delphini slipped her book back into her trunk and fed Arion a few owl treats in the hope he wouldn't be too annoyed about her leaving him on the station platform. Her father has told her many times about the journey from the train to Hogwarts, but she still felt bad for abandoning Arion and travelling by boat. As she disembarked the train she heard a gruff voice calling for first years. She made her way over and was greeted with the sight of Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant gamekeeper of Hogwarts. She let herself blend in to the crowd of first years as they made their way over to the boats. She knew there would be plenty of staff that disliked her due to her parents and she wasn't quite ready to face them yet. There was only one professor she knew would like her and that was Professor Snape, her godfather.

Delphini's attention was drawn by the gasps of her fellow first-years. They had rounded the bend and the first view of Hogwarts was visible in the distance. Delphini smiled, it was just as beautiful and magical as her father had described. The sun had long set, but the castle was bathed in moonlight, the view increased by the reflection of the moon off the water of the lake. Delphini could see a glow coming from large windows in the castle and she guessed that's where the Great Hall was.

They slowly made their way towards the castle and then followed Hagrid up the hill to the front door. A tall, thin figure waited for them.

"Good evening first years." The figure spoke stepping into the glow of the doorway lanterns. "I am Professor Snape, Potions Master, Head of Slytherin house and Deputy Head of this school." Muttering broke out among the soon-to-be students when they realised they were in the presence of the great Severus Snape; a man who received an Order of Merlin First Class for his work in the ending of the 2nd Wizarding War.

"Silence." Professor Snape snapped. The effect was immediate. "You will shortly be sorted into your Hogwarts house: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Hard work will earn points for your house, rule breaking and insolence will lose you points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup. Follow me."

Delphini looked around in awe trying to take as much of it in as possible. Others around her were doing the same, one small boy looking up so much that he walked into the back of Professor Snape.

"Sorry, Sir." The boy stammered as the potions master turned and glared at him.

"You're lucky you haven't been sorted yet, so i can not take points this time." Professor Snape spun back to the front and marched through the doors to the Great Hall at a ferocious pace leaving the first years to practically run to catch up.

"This is how it will work." Professor Snape stated once he had reached the far end of the room. "I will call your name, you will come up, sit on the stool and I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head. You will then be sorted and go sit at the appropriate table where you will eat your meals henceforth. Bryant, Jason." Delphini could hear the sigh from Professor Snape as the clumsy boy from earlier shuffled up the steps towards the Hat.

"Ravenclaw!" The Sorting Hat shouted after a couple of seconds. The entire hall erupted in cheers, but none louder than the table decked out in blue. Jason Bryant shuffled back down the steps and over to the Ravenclaw table looking relieved.

"Bulstrode, Eleanor." Was unsurprisingly sorted into Slytherin along with "Burke, Matthew and Carrow, John."

"Chang, Louise." Became the first Gryffindor of the night followed by,

"Clark, Clarissa." Ravenclaw.

"Clearwater, Liam." Ravenclaw.

"Davies, Jessica." Slytherin.

"Davis, Gabriella." Joined Louise in Gryffindor.

"Fawley, Emma." Caused a massive cheer from the Hufflepuffs who were glad they finally had a new member.

"Felter, Kyle." Became a Gryffindor.

"Flint, Aurelius; Greengrass, Peter; and Hardy, Julia." All became Slytherins as well.

"Hughes, Mila." Hufflepuff.

"Johnson, Andrew." Gryffindor.

"Lupin, Chelsea." Professor Snape called and the Hall quietened. It was common knowledge that her parents Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks had given their lives during the 2nd Wizarding War in an attempt to stop Delphini's father. Chelsea and her twin brother were left orphaned to be raised by their grandmother, Andromeda. Chelsea walked confidently up the steps and sat looking out at the rest of the hall with a smile on her face.

"Gryffindor!" The Hat called out an Chelsea bounded towards the Gryffindor table grinning.

"Lupin, Edward." The hall turned back to the front to watch Chelsea's twin brother being sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Macmillan, Ruth." Followed Edward Lupin into Hufflepuff.

"McKinley, Mara." Gryffindor.

"Murphy, Daniel." Gryffindor.

"Phillips, Alfred." Hufflepuff.

"Riddle, Delphini." The silence in the hall was deafening compared to that of the Lupins. Delphini could feel everybody's eyes on her as she walked towards Professor Snape. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one the professors staring at her with anger in his eyes. Professor Potter; Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and the boy her father had tried to kill many times over. Pushing the thought out of her head she sat gently on the stall and waited for the sorting.

"Riddle, huh?" A voice in her head spoke. "Haven't had one of your kind in a long time." Just put me in Slytherin Delphini thought. "Slytherin you say...same as your parents...or maybe you aren't." Slytherin, please, Slytherin. I have to be in Slytherin. "Most would agree. But I am not most."

Delphini sat and sat as the Hat went around and around; yes Slytherin, no Slytherin. Until...

"Gryffindor!"


	4. Chapter 2

Delphini sat there numb. Gryffindor? She couldn't be in Gryffindor. She was a Riddle, she belonged in Slytherin.

The hall sat in silence, as shocked as she was. Professor Snape roused her from her stupor, nudging her towards the Gryffindor table with a look of shock and pity on his face. She sat on the end away from everyone else, not that anyone seemed eager to sit next to her. Delphini was so lost in her own head she only realised that the sorting had continued when a boy with ginger hair walked towards her and joined the Gryffindor table. Pulling herself from her mind, Delphini forced herself to pay attention to the remaining sorting and clap along with everyone else.

"Shacklebolt, Tanya." and "Shafiq, David." Became Ravenclaws.

"Selwyn, Zadoci." Slytherin. No surprise there.

"Smith, Christopher." Ravenclaw.

"Taunton, Helena." Hufflepuff.

"Wilson, Natalia." Ravenclaw.

" Wood, Jeremy." Concluded the sorting ceremony taking a seat at the Hufflepuff table. Professor Snape headed towards the teachers' table as an important looking woman stood up.

"Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall and I am the headmistress of Hogwarts. Welcome back to our older students and I hope that you will help all of our first years to settle in nicely." Nobody missed the emphasis she put on 'all' whilst looking intently at the Gryffindor table. "There are plenty of announcements to be made, but for now, let us eat." And with that, the tables flooded with food.

Delphini looked down at her still-empty plate suddenly not having much of an appetite for anything. She spooned a few roast potatoes and carrots onto her plate along with a slice of chicken, but merely pushed it around with her fork and barely ate two bites of it. Further down the table, the rest of Gryffindor house were tucking into the feast before them whilst catching up on each other's summer holidays. The first years were all sat together getting acquainted, and Delphini couldn't help but feel a little left out despite feeling that she belonged anywhere but where she was.

As dinner faded away into dessert, Delphini's happiness sunk lower and lower, feeling more alone than ever. She had failed in her father's wish for her to be sorted into Slytherin and she was certain that the Gryffindor tie she would no doubt be wearing for lessons tomorrow would not 'make him proud' as requested. She barely registered everyone standing up to leave the Great Hall, following them on autopilot. A small voice in her head reminded her that McGonagall had said there would be notices which she had obviously missed whilst wallowing in her disappointment.

Somehow, she ended up outside the Gryffindor Common Room along with the other first-years with enough brain cells working to commit to memory the password which the prefect mentioned was 'stagnum viriditas'. Despite everything, she looked around the common room with interest, having heard stories of the Slytherin common room many times over (and indeed this morning), but had never heard a word about the Gryffindor one. The common room was situated in the aptly named Gryffindor Tower and was full of cosy looking sofas and armchairs dotted around the room with a basic but decently-sized fireplace off to one side. Straight ahead were two spiral staircases made of stone.

"Welcome to Gryffindor Tower," the prefect began, "My name is Annabel and this here is Jack and we are this year's Gryffindor prefects. If you have any questions, queries or concerns you can come to us and we'll try to help you out."

"This is the Gryffindor common room where you will probably spend most of your free time, especially in winter." Continued Jack. "The password changes once a month, so do remember to check the notice board by the portrait entrance at the beginning of each month to avoid sleeping in the corridor." That earned a few chuckles from the students and Jack grinned. Annabel rolled her eyes and continued,

"If you turn around, you will see two staircases; the left leads to the boy's dormitories, the right to the girl's dormitories. Boys if you would like to follow Jack, he'll take you up to your room. Girls follow me."

The girls eagerly followed Annabel up the stairs chattering as they went. The room she showed them into was a wooden paneled, round room with five four-poster beds around the edge. Next to each of the beds was one the girl's trunks and their pet's cages sat on the corresponding bedside table. At least she wouldn't have to fight over which bed would be hers thought Delphini as she made her way over to the bedside table which held Arion.

"Hey boy." she muttered, running her hand gently over his head. Arion nipped affectionately at her finger as she turned back towards the rest of her new room. She contemplated just getting out what she needed from her trunk and then pulling the curtains around her bed, but that would only delay the inevitable. With a sigh, she walked towards the others.

"Hi." Delphini started slowly. "I'm Delphini."

"We know who you are, Slytherin." Was the reply she got back.

"Umm... Technically I'm a Gryffindor."

"Wearing a red and gold tie doesn't mean you aren't meant to be in Slytherin." The same girl replied.

"I'm sorry," Delphini said sincerely, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. You are?"

"Chelsea Lupin." The girl shot back. She had long, blonde hair tied up in a messy ponytail that reached halfway down her back. "Daughter of Nymphadora Tonks, your mother's niece. The niece she murdered twenty days after Teddy and I were born."

"Oh. Right." Delphini looked at the floor, unsure how to continue. "I'm not my mother and we have to share this room for the next seven years, so maybe we could try to put that aside and move on?"

"Move on?!?!" Chelsea was practically shouting now. "I have no memories of my mum or dad because of your parents and you want me to just move on?!?!" 

"My mother was murdered too!" Delphini's voice voice to match Chelsea's.

"Well she deserved it!"

"Chelsea... maybe that's a little unfair." One of the other girl's interjected. She had olive-tanned skin and shoulder length dark hair with purple rimmed glasses sat on her nose. "Losing your parents hurts I'm sure, but when you're that young, it doesn't really matter what they did, you miss them all the same."

"Why are you defending her, Mara? You do know what her father tried to do? Kill all muggleborns. If her parents had their way, you wouldn't even be in this school, you'd be stuck in the muggle world forever, or dead." Chelsea finished dramatically although she seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"She was right though, Chelsea." Mara replied. "We all have to live here for seven years. We may as well try to get along."

"Fine." Chelsea relented. "She can stay. But I'll never be friends with her. Actually," she continued, turning towards Delphini, "don't even talk to me. Just stay out of my way and try not to do anything homicidal."

And with that Chelsea grabbed her towel and pyjamas set out of her trunk and strode into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Thanks." Delphini said to Mara.

"No problem." Mara replied. "This doesn't make us friends though. I just didn't want you two to be yelling at each other all night and I don't want to start my year off tomorrow by waking up to find one of you has murdered the other. By the way, that's Louise and Gabriella over there. I have a feeling they aren't going to come over and introduce themselves."

Delphini nodded in appreciation before heading back over to her own bed. This was going to be a long year.

* * *

Delphini woke the next morning to the sun streaming in through the window. The other girls in the room were just starting to stir as well, although some (mainly Louise) did not look too happy about the fact. Delphini herself was quite looking forward to the day. The first day of lessons. This was something she could actually do and wasn't at all dependent on being liked by her peers. 

Encouraged by that thought, she climbed out of bed and made her way over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. By the time she had emerged, showered, hair brushed and tied back, and teeth cleaned, the others had all managed to find their way out of their own beds (with the exception of Louise who sat in bed brushing her hair determined to remain under the warm comfort of the duvet for as long as possible).

"Come on, Louise." Mara begged whilst sat on her bed completely ready for the day. "if you don''t get up now, you'll miss breakfast. And your timetable." She added as an afterthought. Louise grumbled but slowly slipped off the bed and haphazardly pulled on her uniform.

Once all the girls were ready, they wandered down to the Great Hall for breakfast; Delphini trailing slightly behind so as not to appear to be part of the group which she was sure would annoy Chelsea. Resigned to the fact that none of the Gryffindor girls wanted anything to do with her, she sat further down the table from them and ate breakfast alone, much like dinner the night before. Unlike dinner, she actually had an appetite and soon had a plate full of eggs, bacon and sausages, washing it down with pumpkin juice. Whilst eating, she thought about the upcoming day, excited about what she would learn - probably not much as her father had ensured she had a basic understanding of all magical areas during his tutoring. She already knew how to hold her wand correctly (you'd be surprised how many people didn't), how to be clear and precise when speaking incantations, and had even tried spells out using her father's wand. Nevertheless, Delphini was excited to see that the day would bring. Her trail of thought was interrupted by movement from the teacher's table.

"Good morning." Said Professor McGonagall cheerfully. "I hope you are all excited to start your new term here. If you would all remain seated whilst your Head of House hands out the timetables, it would be greatly appreciated. As usual we will be starting with the first years, so that they may have the longest to find their classrooms."

With that, the Heads of Houses headed towards their respective tables to find their first years. Delphini looked on with slight apprehension as she realised who the Head of Gryffindor was: Harry Potter. The Professor in question, paused by the group of first year girls and, tapping on the sheets, he filled each timetable before handing them to the girls. As he made his was towards the first year boys, he noticed Delphini sat by herself. Walking towards her, her looked down with an expression of confusion, mistrust and intrigue.

"Delphini Riddle." He murmured under his breath as he continued to stare down at her. "Welcome to Gryffindor." He said shortly, thrusting the timetable towards her and making his way further down the table, before pausing and looking back at her. She sat there and waited but he said nothing further and quickly turned back to the timetables in his hand.

Delphini looked down to examine her timetable. Monday: double Defence Against the Dark Arts in the morning followed by Herbology and Flying in the afternoon. Not too bad for day one. Unless you consider that her father tried to murder the Defence teacher several times and her mother tortured the Herbology professor's parents into insanity. Suddenly Flying was looking like the most reasonable part of the day. Still, she decided that as long as she kept her head down, did good work and didn't cause any trouble, there was no reason why the day shouldn't be fine. Gathering her bag, she made her way out of the Great Hall and towards the Grand Staircase. Now she just had to find the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. She considered going back and asking Professor Potter for directions, but that would mean interacting with a man who seemed to hate her guts, so she decided to work it out herself. After all, how hard could it be?

Ten minutes later, she had found out from a helpful portrait that the Defence classroom was on the third floor on the north side of the castle. Pulling out her wand, she laid it on her palm and said "point me." She wasn't entirely sure if first years were supposed to use magic before class had even begun, but she wasn't about to be late to her first class so she pushed the thought aside and followed the tip of her wand to the north side of the castle. Rationally she deduced, that if first years weren't supposed to do magic, it was because none of them knew much and they didn't want people getting hurt. She knew what she was doing and the spell pointed her to the exact corridor she needed. Smiling slightly, she slipped her wand back into her bag and joined the other first years waiting outside the classroom door.

As they followed Professor Potter into the classroom, she looked around and noticed that Gryffindor would be sharing this class with Hufflepuff. Chelsea looked very pleased with this and chatted in a near constant stream to Teddy who replied just as enthusiastically when given the chance.

"Find a seat please and take out your copy of 'The Dark Forces - A Guide to Self-Protection'." Professor Potter said standing behind his desk at the front of the class.

Delphini slipped into a chair near the front and retrieved her book from her bag along with her wand, placing both on the desk. She was joined by a slightly reluctant Jeremy Wood, a shortish brown-haired boy from Hufflepuff. She gave him a half-heartened smile before turning back to the front as Professor Potter began the lesson.

"Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts." Professor Potter spoke whilst looking out towards the first years listening with rapt attention. "Can anyone tell me what the Dark Arts are?"

A couple of hands moved tentatively into the air.

"Yes Miss...?" Professor Potter asked pointing to a strawberry blonde haired Hufflepuff whose face was covered in freckles.

"Emma Fawley, Sir." She replied. "The Dark Arts is magic that is used to cause harm to others or kill them. Most of them are illegal, such as the unforgivables."

"Correct Miss Fawley." Potter replied smiling. "Ten points to Hufflepuff. Although, not all dark magic necessarily causes direct harm, for instance the imperious curse. However, for now, what we will be looking at for most of first year will be basic defensive magic and we shall start to examine some magical creatures and you will be able to decide for yourself if they are dark creatures or simply misunderstood ones." Picking up his copy of the textbook , Professor Potter said, "could we all turn to page 11 in our textbooks and read the introduction on disarming charms."

Delphini glanced down at her book and skimmed through the introduction having read the chapter on disarming charms before. She raised her head and looked over at the other students, all of them studiously studying the text in an attempt to get the school year off to a good start. Her eyes wandered upwards to the pictures that hung on the walls depicting various creatures; some she recognised such as a dementor and an acromantula, others she did not. She started to hear chattering and realised most people had finished reading the passage. Professor Potter seemed to realise the same thing as he stood back up from his desk and addressed the class.

"Now I know that this is your first lesson and most of you have never held a wand before, but let's give disarming a shot. The incantation is expelliarmus." He flicked his wand and a set of pencils soared across the classroom, one dropping in front of each student. "The idea is that one of you holds the pencil loosely in your hand and the other attempts to disarm you. Work with the person you are sat next to. Try not to be too discouraged if it doesn't happen first time, or even this lesson."

Turning towards Jeremy, Delphini asked if he wanted to go first. After a hesitant nod, which she took as a yes, she picked up the pencil from the desk in front of her and held it in her hand, smiling at Jeremy to let him know she was ready. Not that she really should have bothered. Twelve attempts later and the pencil in her hand was yet to even wobble let alone fly away from her. Delphini thought he might just be nervous as his pronunciation was correct if a little muffled and the wand movement was fine. Maybe it was first day nerves. But he had seemed fine earlier when he had walked into the classroom laughing with the other Hufflepuff boys. Maybe it was her.

"Would you like me to have a go?" Delphini asked after another six attempts, bringing his total to 18 failed incantations.

"Sure," Jeremy muttered scowling at her. Delphini raised her wand, "Expelli..." she was interrupted by Chelsea snickering behind her.

"Are you sure you want to do that, Jeremy?" Chelsea asked. "She might curse you with real dark magic instead of disarming you."

Delphini rolled her eyes and concentrated back on the pencil wand still raised, but Jeremy had gone rather pale.

"You really think I would actually curse you?" Delphini asked baffled by the fear in her partner's eyes. "Even if I wanted to, I'd be expelled before you hit the floor."

This apparently, did little to reassure Jeremy who got up and quickly joined the other Hufflepuff boys on the other side of the classroom. Chelsea continued to snicker behind her, and it wasn't long before Louise, Gabriella and many other Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were joining in.

"Something amusing?" Professor Potter asked as her walked over to Chelsea.

"Just the thought of a dark witch trying to learn how to defend herself against her own evil spells, Sir." Delphini turned around and glared at Chelsea, her father's temper rising up through her. She felt her hand tightening around her wand and she forced herself to calm down, knowing that having a tempter tantrum and dueling a fellow student on the first day of term would not be a good start to the year.

"5 points from Gryffindor, Miss Lupin." Potter said sternly, "I will not have students needlessly insulting each other in my classroom. I think you owe Miss Riddle an apology for that insinuation about her intentions here at Hogwarts."

"Sorry." Chelsea muttered begrudgingly towards Delphini.

"It's okay." Delphini replied. "Although I would appreciate it if you stopped insulting me every five minutes." Chelsea glanced at Professor Potter, who had already turned back to the rest of the class, before rolling her eyes at Delphini.

"Wouldn't bet on it Riddle." She smirked.

The majority of the lesson passed without further incident until a frightened screech came from the far side of the classroom. Professor Potter jumped up in a panic from where he had been crouched next to Gabriella's desk explaining the wand work. The screech had come from Jeremy.

"The pencil just flew out of my hand!" he exclaimed.

"That is the point of this exercise..." said Professor Potter looking a little baffled by the whole thing.

"But we weren't practising at that point." Jeremy replied, looking slightly traumatised by the event.

"Okay..." Potter mused, not entirely sure what to make of the whole thing. "Can someone tell me who did cast the spell then?"

"I did." Delphini answered raising her hand. "He was supposed to be my partner but he walked off so I just practiced anyway from over here."

"That's an impressively precise incantation from that distance Miss Riddle. Especially for a first year." Potter commented. "If you can do it again and prove it was you, you can have 20 points for Gryffindor."

Unperturbed by the challenge set, Delphini raised her wand once more, only for Jeremy to duck down behind Teddy Lupin's desk. Potter shook his head a little before heading over towards Jeremy and standing in his place with a pencil in his own hand.

"Try this one."

For the fourth time that lesson, Delphini Riddle raised her wand and muttered Expelliarmus. The pencil flew out of the teacher's hand and Delphini caught it in her spare one.

"20 points to Gryffindor, Miss Riddle." Professor Potter said with a smile on his face. And with that the bell rang for lunch. As Delphini was quietly packing up her things, Professor Potter came over.

"You're quite the impressive young witch, Miss Riddle. Just be careful how you use it. You won't make any friends like this." He stated and walked away.

As Delphini left the classroom she decided that Potter was probably right, although she wasn't sure she would make any friends any other way either. On the bright side though, perhaps Defence wouldn't be such a bad class after all.


End file.
